Physical determinants of fibrinolysis in single fibrin fibers.

ABSTRACT: Fibrin fibers form the structural backbone of blood clots; fibrinolysis is the process in which plasmin digests fibrin fibers, effectively regulating the size and duration of a clot. To understand blood clot dissolution, the influence of clot structure and fiber properties must be separated from the effects of enzyme kinetics and perfusion rates into clots. Using an inverted optical microscope and fluorescently-labeled fibers suspended between micropatterned ridges, we have directly measured the lysis of individual fibrin fibers. We found that during lysis 64 ± 6% of fibers were transected at one point, but 29 ± 3% of fibers increase in length rather than dissolving or being transected. Thrombin and plasmin dose-response experiments showed that the elongation behavior was independent of pl

SUBMITTER: Bucay I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4340865 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature